Those who can have also introduced or expanded supplemental learning opportunities, helping students, particularly those who struggled in the past year, to catch up. In the United Kingdom, nearly 3,000 schools (74%) offered summer learning. Jordan reopened schools in mid-August specifically to provide remedial instruction ahead of the September school year start -nearly all 2.2 million students attended these classes – a testimony to the prevalent concern among students that their recent learning loss is deep and may jeopardize their future prospects.

These uneven trends in recovery efforts, coupled with continued pandemic disruptions, are also having uneven impact. As early as June 2020, the World Bank calculated lifetime earnings loss from school closures to be about US$10 trillion (even accounting for remote learning where it was offered). That number has only increased as some systems continue to prolong their closures in the face of yet another wave. Similarly, UNESCO estimates up to 100 million children could fall below the requisite reading proficiency levels in 2021. The majority of those children are in middle- and lower-income countries, or in economically disadvantaged communities within high income countries. A recent McKinsey study using assessments of students in the United States found that those in the majority-black schools (that tend to serve lower income communities) ended the 2020-21 school year six months behind in both math and reading, compared to peers in schools serving higher income communities-their losses averaged four months’ loss in math and three months in reading.

Perhaps equally disconcerting is the rise in gender inequalities and loss of opportunities for girls in certain environments. A World Bank study estimates as many as 11 million girls may never return to school following the pandemic. While dropping out of school is a detriment for all students, studies show that keeping girls in school has a higher return on investment (about 12% per year) than boys. The abrupt end of their studies brings a greater lifetime loss as well as risks of other social disadvantages.

Challenges such as these and their impact on the most disadvantaged have driven the World Bank, UNICEF, and UNESCO to join forces and launch the "Mission: Recovering Education in 2021" - a global effort to tackle the learning losses brought on by disruptions over the past year. The mission raises alarm on the dual crisis impacting education (pre-existing learning poverty compounded by pandemic-driven disruptions). It also outlines the importance of returning students to active learning, i.e. reopening schools and safely returning students and staff.